


we're meant to be (this is one thing i know)

by stellarisms



Series: 2020 Writing Challenge [20]
Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Hybrids, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Soulmates, Urban Fantasy, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22412428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarisms/pseuds/stellarisms
Summary: Even if Byeongkwan thought the world of him, he'd sooner keep Sehyoon at arm's length to avoid the potential falling-out-of that follows falling in love with someone.Byeongkwan doesn't believe in soulmates or forever.(He doesn't - can't afford to, with his glass heart - plan to start dreaming about it now.)
Relationships: Kim Byeongkwan/Kim Sehyoon | Wow
Series: 2020 Writing Challenge [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588921
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	we're meant to be (this is one thing i know)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [even if it means we shatter, i just wanna be close to you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22104682) by [stellarisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarisms/pseuds/stellarisms). 



> hi hello please read the above fic first so you don't get *too* confused about whats happening in this fic!! its a sequel to the above!!
> 
> other than that, i have no other opening notes :) just. Wowkwan Soulmates. and thank you for reading ehehe ♥

_ Kwan-ah. C-Can I...talk to you when we get back? _

When Sehyoon pulls him aside after the performance to ask him, Byeongkwan's already sky-high mood  **soars** .

_ Whoa, there. Why'd you have to make it sound like it's something we can't talk about in public? _

Gods,  **gods** , he hopes he didn't dream up everything he's noticed tonight.

Their exchange in the car and the way Sehyoon fell for such obvious bait.

The way Sehyoon hovered over him while Yuchan did his makeup.

The way Sehyoon's gaze followed him, from the moment he got onstage to the moment they met up by the stairwell leading backstage. 

The way Sehyoon looks at him  _ now _ , like clinging to his sleeve like a lifeline is the only thing he can do.

Pupils still unfocused, irises burning bright gold - the only way Byeongkwan knows he's losing control of his wolf side.

But, as it turns out, not the only sign Byeongkwan has to go on.

_ I'd rather we talk somewhere private about this,  _ Sehyoon tells him, with the vague start of a smile.  _ If I sound like an idiot, at least you'll be the one to judge me for it. _

* * *

(It might be time, Byeongkwan realizes with a nervous sort of excitement buzzing through him, for them both to finally come clean about their feelings tonight.)

* * *

Of course, Byeongkwan had noticed.

He noticed Sehyoon's growing attraction for  _ months _ on end. 

Noticed his own toward Sehyoon, just barely a few months ago.

He’s seen different sides to Sehyoon, the longer they’ve been companions.

The Sehyoon that stands by, silent, preferring one-on-one conversations to larger company or crowds. 

The Sehyoon that slaps his own leg when he finds something really funny, shaking with laughter and hiding his entire face behind his hand.

The Sehyoon that trains daily for their steady ascension in the tournament, muscles in his human form more pronounced with each passing day.

Sehyoon, stubborn as much as he is sweet.

Sehyoon, who lets Byeongkwan sleep with him in his bed whenever he’s nightmare-stricken or anxious. who gives the warmest hugs to anyone who asks.

Sehyoon, who - once he deems you worthy of his loyalty - would risk bodily harm just to keep you safe.

Sehyoon, who kept on looking (back) at him, like Byeongkwan held the secrets to the eighth world wonder in his hands.

Like Byeongkwan  **_was_ ** the eighth world wonder in his eyes.

Byeongkwan spent the last few months, really, trying not to notice. To stomp out the flame. 

He thought of it as better for the team, their teamwork, and their missions and shared goals that required total emotive control.

If he didn't acknowledge it...that’d be for the best.

He tried to brush it off, the way it was becoming harder not to notice.

In his gaze, wandering to Sehyoon when he changed clothes in front of Byeongkwan.

Or when his Beast Form would rear its head ever so subtly, in how he would stand tall and proud and  _ snarl  _ in the face of an unworthy opponent post-victory.

Or when--

Byeongkwan tried to ignore it and otherwise pretend not to notice it growing beneath the surface, but--

Kim Sehyoon - the fool who got tricked by the Fox Spirit upon first meeting not once but twice, the bleeding heart that almost let his limb be taken by the Pied Piper in order to save Byeongkwan’s life, the first person ever to call his Beast Form beautiful - really did deserve better.

Better than someone as selfish as him.

* * *

Even if Byeongkwan thought the world of him, he'd sooner keep Sehyoon at arm's length to avoid the potential falling-out-of that follows falling in love with someone.

Byeongkwan doesn't believe in soulmates or forever.

(He doesn't - can't afford to, with his glass heart - plan to start dreaming about it now.)

* * *

"Okay…" Byeongkwan sighs once he shuts the door to his suite behind him. "What's the super-secret scoop you had to tell me in private that you couldn't tell me at Landlocked?"

Sehyoon’s habits are nothing new to Byeongkwan.

It’s been the better part of a year that Byeongkwan’s known him-- so he damn well better know all of Sehyoon’s tells by now.

One of them, as it turns out, is what it means when Sehyoon scratches at the side of his neck or behind his ear.

He’s shy.

He’s embarrassed.

He’s  _ hiding something. _

“It’s not a scoop,” Sehyoon says. Not...exactly what Byeongkwan was waiting on. “It’s not super-secret, either. I’ve been noticing. For a while, to be honest.”

“Noticing what?” Byeongkwan takes a seat on his - Sehyoon’s - bed. “You look so damn serious, like...if something’s bothering you, you know you can tell me. I’m always listening.”

It’s natural, when you share so much time and living space. 

What he doesn’t think will happen - which is Sehyoon flopping onto the bed next to him, suddenly, without explanation - isn’t.

Neither is the way he lifts his head to prop it on Byeongkwan’s knees - like Byeongkwan’s done to him countless times before, when he wants head pats and doesn’t want to ask the others - with his twitching wolf ears-- 

_ Ears ?! _

_...He really must be tired and ‘all defenses down,’ _ Byeongkwan thinks,  _ if he’s let his ears free twice in one night. _

“S-Sehni?” Byeongkwan thinks his heart’s going to leap out through his  **throat** . “What...what are you doing--?”

“That’s the thing,” Sehyoon says, face pressed into Byeongkwan’s thigh. He can’t imagine Sehyoon being comfortable like that, fleece pajama pants notwithstanding. “I don’t know. I don’t  **know** what I’m doing anymore. What the hell...I need. Serious help. Or answers. From you, not from anybody else.”

“I...help you...how?” Byeongkwan is  _ thrown _ , not sure how to handle Sehyoon acting so... petulant. “What do you need from me that you can’t get from anyone else?”

Sehyoon picks up his head.

Hesitant, as if he’s afraid.

Why...is he acting like he can’t bear to look Byeongkwan in the eye?

“Kwan. You’re--” 

Sehyoon’s gaze wavers, wanders to his makeshift pillow - Byeongkwan’s lap. 

He lies back down, takes Byeongkwan by the hand; he hadn’t been conscious of the way his nails were digging into the inside of his palm for the last minute, so Sehyoon has to unclench his fist to gently twine their fingers. 

It’s unbearable, the way they’ve grown awkward.

They’re never awkward.

It’s never been this awkward since the day after they met - after Byeongkwan woke up in Sehyoon’s room and found the bandaged-up older boy fast asleep in the chair beside him.

“I’m...” There’s never been any distance between them, not in age or required honorifics. Now all he could focus on is the lack of distance between them. “I’m...what, Sehni?”

Personal histories and different backgrounds aside, they were damn near inseparable ever since Sehyoon brought him into The Mad Squad’s home. 

They’ve been together through all sorts of battles, all sorts of trials, and yet…

Byeongkwan couldn’t even guess.

He never imagined--

“Why,” Sehyoon asks, practically a whisper, his cheek turned to face Byeongkwan’s churning stomach, “do I feel like I don’t deserve somebody as incredible as you?” 

That is  **it** .

“Sit up.” The Fox Spirit demands, mouth drawn in a straight line. Sehyoon flinches in his lap, but doesn’t budge. “Yoonie-hyung,  **_hyung_ ** , seriously. I’m not talking to you unless we’re forehead to forehead, sitting up, looking at each other. Please. Sit up with me so we can talk about the--”

It’s not...quite like a dam breaking.

It’s not like that.

Though when Sehyoon rises up on his haunches, takes to sitting cross-legged in front of Byeongkwan on the bed...his eyes are. Shiny and slightly wet.

Scoots close, but not close enough.

Not until Byeongkwan forces him to close the distance.

Not a protest, not a peep.

Finally, Sehyoon  _ looks _ at him.

Byeongkwan cracks a wan grin, and - despite the palpable tension between them before - Sehyoon starts to as well.

With a sniffle, but even so. It’s a start.

“H-Hey.” Byeongkwan thinks he should ask the obvious question first. But there’s another more pressing one that lingers in the air. “You know I don’t give anyone attention unless I like them, right? I don’t waste my time with anyone unless they’re worth it. You’re...we’ve been through this kinda talk before, Yoonie-hyung.”

“I know.” There’s a trace of childlike candor, in the way Sehyoon answers him. “You and I, we’ve...been there and back before.”

“And...you remember what I said to Jimin-hyung when Bulletproof met us last weekend, don’t you?” 

Sehyoon’s brow wrinkles. Byeongkwan feels it, while their foreheads touch.

“That...I’m your ‘better half’?”

Confused, but so fucking  **cute** about it--

Byeongkwan wants to fling a pillow at his face.

( _ Hold up, this isn’t the time or place for... _ )

“You know,” Byeongkwan runs his hands through Sehyoon’s freshly redyed hair. Admires, for a few seconds, how the blonde suits and compliments his skin tone. Gets distracted, a few seconds longer, over the deep vibrating  _ sound _ Sehyoon can’t help but make when Byeongkwan plays with his ears. “Foxes in my village, we...we don’t take finding a mate lightly. It’s all or nothing for us.”

“A-Ah...is that so?” 

Playing...coy? 

No, or is he smiling because of his ministrations? 

Or is it Byeongkwan’s imagination that’s--

“The common belief is that…” Byeongkwan swallows, not sure how to continue. Not sure how to take Sehyoon’s closed-eye, contented visage. “...when you find your  _ soul _ mate, the one that’s meant for you...you’ll know. Because you’ll feel like you’ve found your better half.”

_ All or nothing, no turning back, no regrets. _

The same mantra they use to focus before a match rings in Byeongkwan’s head.

Along with Sehyoon’s next words, spoken ever so softly:

“Wolves, too. We don’t look for one-night stands, Kwan-ah. When we mate, we mate...for life.”

He doesn’t know what to do, how to respond.

He doesn’t think he knows how to  _ breathe  _ anymore.

* * *

(He’s happy, elated, ecstatic, whatever you wanna call it,  _ he’s just so fucking  _ **_happy_ ** _ \-- _ )

So he kisses Sehyoon, full on the mouth, tumbles back with him as he does.

* * *

  
  


When they catch their bearings after kissing for a good minute or two, it’s with dizzying laughter as their lips at last separate.

Laughing, laughing, a bit of tears on both their parts.

It’s good, it’s fine, he’s happy. 

**_They’re_ ** happy.

“M’sorry I kept you waiting on me.” Byeongkwan doesn’t expect anything back when he says it; he thinks - he knows - the answer already. “We’re here now, though.”

“Isn’t that all that matters?” Sehyoon is beaming, looking up at the younger one perched in his lap like he’s facing the ninth world wonder. “That we’re here now, that we got our shit together and ’fessed up. Took us long enough.”

“You said it,” Byeongkwan agrees, tugging his hair for another kiss, another,  _ another _ . “You can - don’t - say that again.”

Sehyoon laughs, kisses him back, and listens, and-- 

Maybe that  _ is _ all that really matters now.


End file.
